News Archives
July 2006


July 28, 2006
Davis + Henderson enjoys Q2 growth
TORONTO—Davis + Henderson achieved solid growth in sales and net income for both the second quarter and six-month period ended June 30. The company says cheque order volumes have been stronger to date in 2006 than had been anticipated. It also attributes the growth to its acquisition of Filogix, a provider of information and transaction technology for residential mortgage lending and real estate markets, as well as AVS (Advanced Validation Systems), which strengthened the capabilities and breadth of services Davis + Henderson offers to the Canadian financial services marketplace. For the second quarter of 2006, sales increased by $4.7 million or 6.6% to $75.9 million. Net income rose to $17.7 million from $15.9 million in the same period last year.

Greg Neath leaves NEBS, takes on role of Regal CEO
TORONTO—Greg Neath, formerly the president of Midland, Ont.-based B2B direct marketing company, NEBS Canada, has moved to Regal Gifts Corporation as its new CEO. As president of NEBS Canada, Neath doubled the company’s revenues during which time NEBS was bought by Deluxe Corp., a U.S. cheque and business form printer in 2004. Last summer PrintCAN reported that Regal Greetings and Gifts had gone into receivership and was looking for a potential buyer. A buyer seemingly stepped up to the plate, because Regal’s offices are up and running and Neath recently released a statement saying he will focus on new technology, product innovation, expansion of the company’s virtual supply chain model, and creating an enhanced customer experience as he moves Regal into the future. 

July 25, 2006
Greeting card company closure impacts print shop
CAMBRIDGE, ON—One of the largest dollar greeting card producers in Canada, Image Craft, has closed down, leaving 550 staff out of work. Image Craft, a family-founded business was sold to U.S. card company Paramount Cards Holding Corp. in 2000, which closed operations last week, eliminating 1,270 jobs in total at its U.S. and Canadian operations. A spokesperson for Paramount said the company underestimated the expense of shifting most of its operations to Cambridge from its Rhode Island headquarters. Image Craft’s printer, Advance Printing in Paris, Ont., has had to lay off 14 staff as a result of the loss of work that Image Craft provided for the last 23 years. The print shop had been printing 150 million cards a year for the company. 

B.C. shop closes its doors
RICHMOND, B.C.—PrintCAN has learned that GO2Presss has shut its doors. The company opened in 1974 as Lulu Island Printing, but was later renamed GO2Press. It was a full-service shop with bindery equipment.

July 21, 2006
Oakgrove Press shuts down
BRAMPTON, ON—PrintCAN has learned that Oakgrove Press recently closed its doors and went into receivership. Oakgrove was a full service trade printer that had been in business for 27 years. It offered full prepress, press bindery and mailing services to local printers and in 2004 had installed new CTP equipment.  

Print associations form alliance
RESTON, VA—Members of PESDA (The Printing Equipment and Supply Dealers’ Association of Canada) will become members of PRIMIR (The Print Industries Market Information and Research Organization) through a new alliance between the associations. Benefits of membership to PRIMIR include access to all PRIMIR research studies. Evan Cambray, Pesda president and national marketing manager of graphic systems at Cascades Resources, says the PRIMIR research will enhance the supportive role of PESDA. PRIMIR will enjoy input on the Canadian market and additional research dollars.

July 18, 2006
Canadian printing imports rise, exports fall
TORONTO—According to monthly reports from StatsCan, imports from the top ten countries importing to Canada, increased 4.4% in the period from January to May 2006. Of those 10 countries, U.S. imports increased 4.3% from $340.6 million to $355.4 million and imports from China rose 9% to $62.9 million from $57.7 million. Also notable were imports from Germany, which rose 21.2% over the five-month period and imports from Spain, which rose 42.4%. Exports from Canada to the top 10 international destinations decreased 5.9% to $612.3 million from $650.6 million. Exports to the U.S. fell 11.3%, while exports to India were up 1,630.9%. Interestingly, exports to Luxembourg increased a whopping 12,356.3%, which must indicate a sweet contract for a Canadian printer out there. The numbers from the May 2006, the last month of statistics available, reveal that total print exports to the top ten countries were $115.4 million and imports into Canada from the top ten countries totaled $99 million.

Disgruntled Quebecor workers give issues the Hollywood treatment
CHICAGO—Moviegoers gearing up to catch a screening of the new M. Night Shyamalan movie, Lady in the Water, on Monday night must have been a bit perplexed to receive leaflets from disgruntled Quebecor World teamsters. The union workers brought their issues into the limelight, so to speak, leafleting an advance showing of the movie, which was produced by Time/Warners Bros., which of course owns and prints both Time and Sports Illustrated at Quebecor plants. A press release from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters says, “American workers and their families flock to Time/Warner Bros. movies and make Time Inc.’s magazines top sellers. Time Warner and its subsidiaries have clout as key Quebecor customers, and they should use it to speak up for working Americans.”

July 13, 2006
Transcontinental apologizes, sets record straight
MONTREAL—Transcontinental management publicly apologized to Ginette Roy, senior vice president, finance and technology of Transcontinental Media, after she received a $5,000 fine for allegedly reporting, almost a year after the fact, the sale of 2920 shares of Transcontinental on April 25, 2005. Transcontinental admitted that the delay was due to an administrative error. The company’s insider trading policy makes it responsible for producing the reports on insider trading. The company says Roy is a manager of great skill and integrity, who has been with the Corporation for 27 years. 

Gesca joins Torstar and LiveDeal to ramp up online publishing
TORONTO—The soaring business of online classified ads also offer a complementary print component in the latest website partnership announcement. Gesca, publisher of several French-language daily newspapers, has joined the existing partnership between LiveDeal and Torstar Digital, on the website LiveDeal.ca. Launched at the beginning of this year, LiveDeal.ca is a free online classifieds site and will now extend its reach through a French-language version. LiveDeal.ca is specializes in selling large items such as cars, homes and major appliances. The company says the new online tools and platform offered b LiveDeal.ca also enables Gesca to provide its readers and advertisers with a complementary print and online classified solution.

July 11, 2006
Hydro-Quebec switches to FSC recycled paper
MONTREAL—In its campaign to increase consumer awareness and sway corporate practices, Greenpeace has added another large firm to its list of forest-friendly paper users. Hydro-Quebec is amending its procurement practices to ensure that it purchases only chlorine-free FSC-certified 100% recycled paper for its printing and copying needs. The electric utility company purchases 650 tonnes of paper a year for its printing and copying. The company says its new policy will help save 11,000 trees and 20 million litres of water a year. The policy of purchasing only forest-friendly paper will apply to all Hydro-Quebec facilities as of 2007. The company is planning to adopt the same requirement for disposable paper over the next five years, as procurement contracts are renewed. As soon as the technology is available, the utility intends to extend the use of forest-friendly paper to all its business operations.

July 6, 2006
Grafikom acquires Speedfast Color Press
TORONTO—Grafikom has bought Speedfast Color Press, a privately owned commercial print and mailing shop with two locations in Edmonton. Founded in the early 1960s Speedfast Color Press employs 65 people and was owned by Mike Steiner, who bought the business in 1998. The acquisition will boost Grafikom’s presence in Edmonton, in which it already has a facility, grafikom.jasper. Steiner says he is happy about the transition and benefits of joining Grafikom and it will be business as usual at the plant. Grafikom now has seven locations across Canada and employs more than 700 people. 

Relizon changes name south of the border
DAYTON, OH—The U.S. businesses of WorkflowOne and Relizon have completed a brand consolidation and are now exclusively using the brand name WorkflowOne in the U.S. In Canada, however, the name Relizon still exists as Relizon Canada. The company says the translation of WorkflowOne to French for use in Quebec was too bulky to be practical. The print companies provide commercial printing, marketing, and document and forms management for financial and health care industries. Workflow Management said in March that it was consolidating the U.S. businesses of Relizon and WorkflowOne into the Relizon’s headquarters in Dayton. 

July 4, 2006
Cascades Resources renamed Spicers
TORONTO—Cascades Resources, now a division of Paperlinx Canada, has officially been renamed Spicers, a division of Paperlinx, in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. Paperlinx purchased Cascades Resources, a division of Cascades Fine Papers Group, in March. A new corporate image is coming soon, including a new logo and company colours. The company says it is capitalizing on the Spicers brand already established in the U.S. The newly named Spicers in Canada will continue supplying its customers from its existing branches throughout Canada. 

New Transcontinental Media president to beef up digital presence
MONTREAL—As of August 7, Natalie Larivière will take on the role of president of Transcontinental Media, which includes the company’s magazine and newspaper publishing operations as well as direct mail and digital media. Prior to joining Transcontinental, Larivière was president and CEO of the Book Publishing Group at Quebecor Media and president and CEO of Groupe Archambault. Before that she had been with the National Bank, where her responsibilities included managing the bank’s electronic services for businesses and all electronic commerce projects. Transcontinental president and CEO Luc Desjardins says Larivière will be implementing a strategy of market consolidation and dissemination of content across multiple digital platforms

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